LitNet.info- Facts and Forecast

Overview
Our involvement with Uganda Christian Education began in 1987; since that time, we have discovered several opportunities for service in this region. Small Christian schools, particularly those in rural areas, are plagued with a lack of teaching resources and a dearth of trained teachers. Book famine is pervasive, yet teachers, parents, and churches display resourcefulness and an eager desire to improve education standards; they share the need for encouragement, networking, and expertise.

LitNet! develops curriculum and teaching materials which promote literacy in English.
LitNet! organizes and implements "On-site" training for indigenous Christian school administrators and teachers in developing nations. This training promotes Christian education and literacy, particularly in rural communities.
LitNet! provides tactical support and resources for the development of faith-based, educational, and non-profit organizations.

As a result of collaboration with East African nationals, LitNet! piloted an early literacy curriculum in 2002. This curriculum (called School in a Briefcase) teaches primary-aged students in East Africa how to read and write in English. School in a Briefcase addresses the severe shortages of books and teaching materials found in many rural East African Christian schools and provides systematic guidelines for the teachers using it. The curriculum is culturally relevant, published in Uganda, and its consumable materials are photocopy-reproducible. School in a Briefcase is distributed in conjunction with three days of teacher training. The cost of each Briefcase is subsidized by ministry donations.

Our financial commitment set down its roots in 1987, when we started sending support funds and recycled Christian Education materials to Uganda. We collected used student workbooks from Christian schools in the U.S., mailed these materials to Uganda, and began conducting teacher training seminars there in 1994.

Four years later, African teachers began to express the need for quality, culturally relevant teaching materials. Donations created a support base that allowed us to spend two years in Uganda writing and illustrating phase one of the School in a Briefcase curriculum. We trained teacher trainers, and began laying plans for income-generating projects that could sustain the work in East Africa. Upon returning to the U.S., we began the process of incorporating as a nonprofit organization called LitNet!

creating phase two of the curriculum
expanding the size of the team in Uganda
developing staffed regional training centers in four parts of Uganda
reformatting portions of the School in a Briefcase for sale in the U.S.
assisting the East African Project Manager as she makes plans to form an NGO and begin a model school
exploring ways to expand the LitNet! financial base

Since its inception, LitNet! (the Literacy Network) has sought to live up to its motto “connecting people through literacy”. Rather than “selling” the idea, we have engaged in partnering with others who share the belief that empowerment comes with literacy. We also believe that true freedom comes with reading the Word of God and knowing Christ; literacy plays a vital role in that process. Our simple goal in this partnership is to connect the need with the supply.

The Need…
Our twenty-year connection with Christian churches, schools, and teachers in East Africa has revealed great needs:

large populations of children, particularly in rural areas, unable to afford the cost of schooling
overcrowded government schools
struggling Christian schools, particularly in rural areas
pastors and untrained teachers who desire to teach more effectively
chronically high rates of teacher turn-over
a pervasive lack of books and teaching materials
a pervasive lack of financial resources among parents, teachers, schools, and churches
book famine
lack of an established reading culture

Uganda has the youngest population in the world. A revised United Nations Populations Estimates released in March, 2007, indicates that the average age of Uganda's 28 million people is 15.3 years. Uganda also remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with 31% of the population living below the poverty line with an annual per capita income of around $300 US.

The Supply…
The nature of our work in the teaching profession, and our growing network of missions-minded churches and individuals have revealed the potential supply:

God’s promises to provide for our every need
our own experience, training, and abilities in the areas of writing, drawing, teaching, and administration
our own desire to encourage, instruct, and lead the way toward creative solutions to educational challenges
a growing number of Ugandan teachers willing to share knowledge with their colleagues
caring churches, families, and individuals ready to share their financial resources
educators and other Christians willing to travel and share their expertise
teachers and schoolchildren in the U.S. eager to help needy classrooms abroad

LitNet! has made a decision to focus training efforts on teachers. This, we feel, is a more efficient and effective way to reach more children. As teachers are equipped and materials are field-tested, we create a growing pool of indigenous teacher trainers from which we can draw. Our dream is to establish training and distribution centers in all major regions of Uganda.

The Network…
We began with what was in our hands: what we had and what we knew.

As time passed, friends, family, and churches joined us. The network expanded, and we were able to connect more supply to the seemingly endless need. Requests for School in a Briefcase training seminars continue to pour in. Teachers who have been trained to implement the first phase of the curriculum are eagerly awaiting and requesting the second phase, which is designed for use in Primary 1 (first grade). We are responding to the call for a Christian curriculum that meets Uganda government standards for Primary Schools.

LitNet! Development Plans in the U.S.
Our Mission Statement reads: “LitNet! has three operational objectives.

First, LitNet! develops curriculum and teaching materials which promote literacy in English…”

We have set a goal for completion of new African School in a Briefcase (phase 2) materials that will conform to Uganda National Curriculum standards. Production, distribution, and field testing will take place in Uganda. As a result, the majority of our time and energy here in the U.S. will be spent aiming for that target.

School in a Briefcase contains a volume of children’s stories and related Bible stories that have sales potential in the U.S., as do the accompanying leveled reading books and alphabet chart. Once these are reformatted to fit U.S. paper, they will be made available to schools, home schoolers, missionaries, churches, and other interested individuals via internet or mail order. We will then begin seeking potential advertising platforms (magazines, conferences, etc.); our existing website (www.litnet.info) will be utilized for distribution. Marketing these items would create a source of income for the LitNet! ministry.

Advertising and promotion for LitNet! is currently through personal contact; as we seek to broaden our base of support , we will seek wider avenues to share partnering. LitNet! currently distributes a monthly newsletter to interested parties, maintains a website (see above), responds to invitations from schools and churches with personal visits, and has published an attractive brochure for distribution. We are investigating additional venues for publicity and promotion.

Our Mission Statement’s second and third operational objectives are as follows:

LitNet! organizes and implements “on site” training for indigenous Christian school teachers and administrators in the United States and developing nations. This training promotes Christian education and literacy, particularly in rural communities.
LitNet! provides tactical support and resources for the development of faith-based, educational, and non-profit organizations.

The LitNet! Uganda team continues to present School in a Briefcase and Sunday School teacher training seminars twice per month, on the average. The LitNet! team also continues to visit classrooms, do follow-up observation and training, and provide consultation for School in a Briefcase trained teachers.

In 2006, the LitNet! team traveled to Kabale (a small city in the extreme southwest corner of Uganda) to train approximately 140 future teachers in the Education Department at Bishop Barham University; we have hopes of continuing to work in partnership with this college to develop a core of young teachers who share the LitNet! vision. If we are successful, another LitNet! Teacher Trainer would be selected to oversee the work in that area.

One of our greatest immediate hopes is to stage an outreach to the northern part of Uganda, an area of extreme need. Kidnappings and attacks by brutal insurgents there have driven millions of villagers to Internally Displaced Persons camps. If our efforts are successful, another team of trained trainers would carry the work to their colleagues, a materials distribution center would be established, and a local LitNet! Teacher Trainer would be appointed to oversee the work in that area.